Early Life
From a young age I have been interested in singing, drama and visual arts, I also played the piano and was interested in photography.
Starting Career: I started my career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf Von Laban. I used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theater, further developing the work of Laban. Within a year of leaving Laban, I took the opportunity to establish my own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. This is where I met Fritz A. Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with me on many of his famous pieces. In 1925 Sigurd Leeder and I joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik." Sigurd and I went to Paris in 1926 to study Classical Ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova. In 1927 our work, Dance of Death, was criticised for being too avant-garde which means to new and original. Because of this, many of my colleagues left.
Middle Life:
In 1927 I moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Academy. I disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by me to address political concerns of the time. My most important choreographic work, The Green Table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before Adof Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. In 1933 I was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked me to dismiss the Jews from his company and I refused.Sigurd and I took refuge in Holland before resettling in England. After touring in Europe and America, we opened a school at Darting Hall in Devon. In 1934, while in England I added new works to my dancing career, including Pandora (1944), contained disturbing images of human disaster and tragedy, which was later interpreted by some as a statement predicting the future in the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later. I left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. I continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years.
End of Life: I retired in 1968 and died 11 years later in 1979 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. My works are still performed today, especially The Green Table. Anna Markard, (my daughter) supervises companies that perform my works, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theater.
Yvonne Georgi
October 29, 1903-January 25, 1975
Yvonne Georgi posing in one of her many costumes.
Leipzig, German
Early Life:
I was born in Leipzig, the daughter of a respected physician and a French mother. I was discovered in a rare and amazing way.I had no dance instruction as a child, and was discovered almost by chance during a pantomime performance at the home of a friend. I was seventeen years old at the time, finished with school and beginning my training to become a librarian at the famous German Library in Leipzig. At this point I began to study dance on the side and was soon performing my own self-created dances at the variety shows held for young people in a Leipzig department store.
Beginning of Career:
When I realized that dancing was not to be a hobby for me but my life’s purpose. I broke off my training for librarianship and moved to Hellerau, where I began study at the Delcroze Institute. My parents continued to support me but without enthusiasm for my choice; my father especially was opposed to dance as a profession for his daughter. I stayed barely two months in Hellerau; the instruction was too “rhythmic-gymnastic” for me. I introduced myself to Mary Wigman, who I had seen at a dance performance in Leipzig, and was accepted into Wigman’s Dresden school of dance.
Middle Life:
Within a few years enthusiastic audiences were cheering me in solo dance performances and in duo appearances with Gret Palucca. In the fall of 1924 Kurt Jooss engaged me as solo dancer for the Stadttheater in Münster, and during the 1925/26 season, at the Reußisches Theater in Gera, I became the youngest ballet mistress in Germany. After her successful year in Gera Georgi moved to the Städtische Bühnen Hannover (City Stages of Hannover) as ballet mistress and opened her own school of dance. From the first Georgi had shown a preference for modern composers. Her performances gained international attention and respect, and invitations for guest appearances followed. In 1927 Harald Kreutzberg joined Georgi’s company as a solo dancer. The first Georgi-Kreutzberg duo performances took place around this time.
End of Career:
I remained in Hanover through the season of 1931/32. In 1932 I married L.M.G. Arntzenius, music critic and feuilleton editor of De Telegraaf in Holland. In 1936 I resettled permanently in Amsterdam and set about developing a national ballet in the Netherlands. In Scheveningen, my troupe and I were regularly the high point of the season. Back in Germany after the war, I directed the Düsseldorf Ballet from 1951 to 1954, when I returned to Hanover for good. Here, at the State Theater, I found the ideal conditions for building a highly qualified ballet company with a truly modern repertory. I also directed the dance department of Hanover’s Institute of Music and Theater, where I was appointed professor in 1959. In Hanover I succeeded in putting into practice my own concept of a synthesis of classical and modern dance. Under my guidance, the city witnessed numerous premiere performances, among them the Electronic Ballet in 1957 to the music of Henk Badings. But the Georgi-era was unforgettable not only because of my exciting stage productions, major ballets, chamber ballet evenings in the Ballhof, or contributions to the Herrenhausen festival performances; only my understanding for and engagement on behalf of of my dancers could have made possible such a productive and harmonious collaboration over two decades.
German Raft: Resume
Kurt Jooss
January 12th, 1901- May 22nd, 1979
Wasseralfingen, Germany
Early Life
From a young age I have been interested in singing, drama and visual arts, I also played the piano and was a keen photographer.
Starting Career: I started my career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf Von Laban. I used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theater, further developing the work of Laban. Within a year of leaving Laban, I took the opportunity to establish my own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. This is where I met Fritz A. Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with me on many of his famous pieces. In 1925 Sigurd Leeder and I joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik." Sigurd and I went to Paris in 1926 to study Classical Ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova. In 1927 our work, Dance of Death, was criticised for being too avant-garde which means to new and original. Because of this, many of my colleagues left.
Middle Life:
In 1927 I moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Academy. I disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by me to address political concerns of the time. My most important choreographic work, The Green Table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before Adof Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. In 1933 I was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked me to dismiss the Jews from his company and I refused.Sigurd and I took refuge in Holland before resettling in England. After touring in Europe and America, we opened a school at Darting Hall in Devon. In 1934, while in England I added new works to my dancing career, including Pandora (1944), contained disturbing images of human disaster and tragedy, which was later interpreted by some as a statement predicting the future in the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later. I left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. I continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years.
End of Life: I retired in 1968 and died 11 years later in 1979 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. My works are still performed today, especially The Green Table. Anna Markard, (my daughter) supervises companies that perform my works, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theater.
Yvonne Georgi
October 29, 1903-January 25,
1975 Leipzig, Germany
Early Life:
I was born in Leipzig, the daughter of a respected physician and a French mother. It is rare and in fact amazing that the talent of me, great artist, who had no dance instruction as a child, was discovered almost by chance during a pantomime performance at the home of a friend. I was seventeen years old at the time, finished with school and beginning my training to become a librarian at the famous German Library in Leipzig. At this point I began to study dance on the side and was soon performing my own self-created dances at the variety shows held for young people in a Leipzig department store.
Beginning of Career:
When I realized that dancing was to be not merely a hobby for me but her life’s purpose I broke off my training for librarianship and moved to Hellerau, where I began study at the Delcroze Institute. My parents continued to support me but without enthusiasm for my choice; my father especially was opposed to dance as a profession for his daughter. I stayed barely two months in Hellerau; the instruction was too “rhythmic-gymnastic” for me. I introduced myself to Mary Wigman, who I had seen at a dance performance in Leipzig, and was accepted into Wigman’s Dresden school of dance.
Middle Life:
Within a few years enthusiastic audiences were cheering me in solo dance performances and in duo appearances with Gret Palucca. In the fall of 1924 Kurt Jooss engaged me as solo dancer for the Stadttheater in Münster, and during the 1925/26 season, at the Reußisches Theater in Gera, she became the youngest ballet mistress in Germany. After her successful year in Gera Georgi moved to the Städtische Bühnen Hannover (City Stages of Hannover) as ballet mistress and opened her own school of dance. From the first Georgi had shown a preference for modern composers, and under her aegis Hannover blossomed into a center for modern interpretive dance (Ausdruckstanz). Her performances gained international attention and respect, and invitations for guest appearances followed. In 1927 Harald Kreutzberg joined Georgi’s company as a solo dancer. The first Georgi-Kreutzberg duo performances took place around this time.
End of Career:
Georgi remained in Hanover through the season of 1931/32. In 1932 I married L.M.G. Arntzenius, music critic and feuilleton editor of De Telegraaf in Holland. Thanks to half-year contracts in Hanover my fans could still cheer for me, for a while, but in 1936 I resettled permanently in Amsterdam and set about developing a national ballet in the Netherlands. In Scheveningen my troupe and I were regularly the high point of the season. Back in Germany after the war, I directed the Düsseldorf Ballet from 1951 to 1954, when I returned to Hanover for good. Here, at the State Theater, I found the ideal conditions for building a highly qualified ballet company with a truly modern repertory. In addition to the usual appearances in operas and operettas the ballet was guaranteed its own separate performances. I also directed the dance department of Hanover’s Institute of Music and Theater, where I was appointed professor in 1959. In Hanover I succeeded in putting into practice my own concept of a synthesis of classical and modern dance. Under my aegis the city witnessed numerous première performances, among them the Electronic Ballet in 1957 to the music of Henk Badings. But the Georgi-era was unforgettable not only because of my exciting stage productions, major ballets, chamber ballet evenings in the Ballhof, or contributions to the Herrenhausen festival performances; only my understanding for and engagement on behalf of of my dancers could have made possible such a productive and harmonious collaboration over two decades.
German Dance:
5 Questions:
1. Who are some famous dancers and choreographers in Germany?
2. What types of dances are there in Germany.
3. Did any types of dance originate in Germany?
4. Are there any big dance companies in Germany?
5. Was dance effected during World War 2?
Jean-Baptiste Blache de Beaufort (17 May 1765, Berlin - 24 January 1834, Toulouse) was a German ballet dancer and ballet master active in France.
A student of Deshayes, he learned the violon and cello and had what was in essence a provincial career, mainly at Bordeaux, where he succeeded Jean Dauberval. He worked briefly at the Opéra de Paris, putting on The Barber of Seville (1806) and Les Fêtes de Vulcain (1820) there. Among his best known and most popular ballets are Les Meuniers (1787, admired by Arthur Saint-Léon), L'Amour et la Folie, La Chaste Suzanne, La Fille soldat and Almaviva et Rosine (1806).
He retired to Toulouse and declined an offer from that theatre that he become its ballet master. His eldest son, Frédéric-Auguste Blache (1791- ?) revived his father's work at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin from 1816 to 1823, then at the Ambigu-Comique, where he revived the La Fille soldat. Frédéric-Auguste also wrote Polichinelle vampire, interpreted by Charles-François Mazurier (1823) and Jocko ou le Singe du Brésil (1825). Jean-Baptiste's younger son, Alexis-Scipion (1792-1852), was a ballet master at Lyon, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Saint-Petersburg.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306107/Kurt-Jooss Georgi, Yvonne (b Leipzig, 29 Oct. 1903, d Hanover, 25 Jan. 1975). German dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and teacher. An important figure in the German dance renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s. She studied in Leipzig, at the Dalcroze Institute in Hellerau (1920) and from 1921 at the Wigman School in Dresden, where she performed with the Wigman group. Although trained in the Wigman aesthetic, and with no significant classical influences in her background, she none the less maintained an interest in classical dance, and as her career progressed so did her reliance on ballet as a medium for theatrical endeavour. She made her Leipzig debut in 1923, and then toured as a solo recital artist. She continued to tour until 1939 throughout Europe and North America; and also presented duet evenings with Harald Kreutzberg. In 1924 she joined Kurt Jooss's company in Münster. She was ballet mistress in Gera (1925) and in Hanover (1926-31, 1933-6), where she also opened a school. It was at this time that she worked with the ballet master Victor Gsovsky. She also worked in the Netherlands, where in 1931 she founded a dance school and a performing group in Amsterdam, which eventually became the Ballets Yvonne Georgi. In 1941 the group became the resident company of the Amsterdam Opera House. She continued to work in Holland during the Second World War. In Paris she choreographed Berger's 1950 film Ballerina, which starred Verdy. From 1951 she returned to Germany, first as ballet mistress of the Abraxas company and then of the Düsseldorf Opera Ballet (1951-4). She was ballet director in Hanover (1954-70) and director of the dance department at Hanover's Academy of Music until 1973. She staged ballets throughout Germany and the dances for many operas. Although never widely recognized as a choreographer of note, her 1962 ballet Metamorphosen is considered one of the great German ballets of the period.
Initially a music student, Jooss trained in dance from 1920 to 1924 with Rudolf Laban and then worked as choreographer for the avant-garde Neue Tanzbühne (“New Dance Stage”). After studying ballet in Vienna and Paris, Jooss returned to Germany and established a school (1927) and company (1928). In 1930 he became ballet master at the Essen Opera House, where his own group performed. In 1932 he choreographed The Green Table, which won first prize in the choreographic competition organized by the International Archives of Dance in Paris. Subsequently his group became known as Ballets Jooss and made a world tour during 1933 and 1934. Because Adolf Hitler had come to power, Jooss did not return to Germany but with Sigurd Leeder made his headquarters at Dartington Hall, Devon, Eng., where many students came to study his approach to dance. Jooss returned to Essen in 1949, as a British citizen, and reopened his school. His company was disbanded in 1953 (and he retired as school director in 1968), but he reorganized the company for festivals during 1963 and 1964.
Jooss’s masterpiece, The Green Table, is a caustic satire on the futility of war. His other ballets, which include The Big City (1932) and The Seven Heroes (1933), also have contemporary themes or implications. Jooss retained basic ballet steps and positions in his choreography and made extensive use of expressive gesture but eliminated such displays of virtuosity as the use of points and multiple pirouettes. At his school at Dartington Hall and later at Essen, Jooss formalized his approach by further developing eukinetics, a system originated by Laban and designed to enable a dancer to perform a wide variety of dance styles with expression and control. Through his eclectic choreography and his teaching, Jooss expanded the technical and thematic range of theatrical dance
Vera Zorina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Zorina January 2, 1917 - died April 9, 2003) was a ballerina, musical theatre actress and choreographer in both Europe and the United States.
Born as Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin of Norwegian descent, Zorina was George Balanchine's second wife; they were married from 1938 to 1946. She danced in productions he choreographed, both on the stage and screen, including On Your Toes, a Broadway hit later adapted for the screen by Lawrence Riley.
She was also married to Goddard Lieberson from 1946 until his death on May 29, 1977, by whom she had two sons: Peter Lieberson, a composer, and Jonathan Lieberson. Her final marriage was to Paul Wolfe from 1991 until her death on April 9, 2003, aged 86.
According to an article in a 1939 news magazine, she crossed the Atlantic to the U.S. taking a whole luxury upper deck section of the ocean liner. Some reporting centred around scandalous nude sunbathing on the crossing.
Zorina was also associated with Arthur Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, in which she played the title role in the first U.S. performance with the New York Philharmonic under Charles Münch on 1 January 1948. She subsequently played the role many times, notably in the recorded performance from the UK Royal Festival Hall in June 1966 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa
German Dancer Resume:
Kurt Jooss
January 12th, 1901- May 22nd, 1979Wasseralfingen, Germany
Early Life
From a young age I have been interested in singing, drama and visual arts, I also played the piano and was interested in photography.
Starting Career:
I started my career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf Von Laban. I used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theater, further developing the work of Laban. Within a year of leaving Laban, I took the opportunity to establish my own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. This is where I met Fritz A. Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with me on many of his famous pieces. In 1925 Sigurd Leeder and I joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik." Sigurd and I went to Paris in 1926 to study Classical Ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova. In 1927 our work, Dance of Death, was criticised for being too avant-garde which means to new and original. Because of this, many of my colleagues left.
Middle Life:
In 1927 I moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Academy. I disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by me to address political concerns of the time. My most important choreographic work, The Green Table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before Adof Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. In 1933 I was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked me to dismiss the Jews from his company and I refused.Sigurd and I took refuge in Holland before resettling in England. After touring in Europe and America, we opened a school at Darting Hall in Devon. In 1934, while in England I added new works to my dancing career, including Pandora (1944), contained disturbing images of human disaster and tragedy, which was later interpreted by some as a statement predicting the future in the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later. I left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. I continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years.
End of Life:
I retired in 1968 and died 11 years later in 1979 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. My works are still performed today, especially The Green Table. Anna Markard, (my daughter) supervises companies that perform my works, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theater.
Yvonne Georgi
October 29, 1903-January 25, 1975Leipzig, German
Early Life:
I was born in Leipzig, the daughter of a respected physician and a French mother. I was discovered in a rare and amazing way.I had no dance instruction as a child, and was discovered almost by chance during a pantomime performance at the home of a friend. I was seventeen years old at the time, finished with school and beginning my training to become a librarian at the famous German Library in Leipzig. At this point I began to study dance on the side and was soon performing my own self-created dances at the variety shows held for young people in a Leipzig department store.
Beginning of Career:
When I realized that dancing was not to be a hobby for me but my life’s purpose. I broke off my training for librarianship and moved to Hellerau, where I began study at the Delcroze Institute. My parents continued to support me but without enthusiasm for my choice; my father especially was opposed to dance as a profession for his daughter. I stayed barely two months in Hellerau; the instruction was too “rhythmic-gymnastic” for me. I introduced myself to Mary Wigman, who I had seen at a dance performance in Leipzig, and was accepted into Wigman’s Dresden school of dance.
Middle Life:
Within a few years enthusiastic audiences were cheering me in solo dance performances and in duo appearances with Gret Palucca. In the fall of 1924 Kurt Jooss engaged me as solo dancer for the Stadttheater in Münster, and during the 1925/26 season, at the Reußisches Theater in Gera, I became the youngest ballet mistress in Germany. After her successful year in Gera Georgi moved to the Städtische Bühnen Hannover (City Stages of Hannover) as ballet mistress and opened her own school of dance. From the first Georgi had shown a preference for modern composers. Her performances gained international attention and respect, and invitations for guest appearances followed. In 1927 Harald Kreutzberg joined Georgi’s company as a solo dancer. The first Georgi-Kreutzberg duo performances took place around this time.
End of Career:
I remained in Hanover through the season of 1931/32. In 1932 I married L.M.G. Arntzenius, music critic and feuilleton editor of De Telegraaf in Holland. In 1936 I resettled permanently in Amsterdam and set about developing a national ballet in the Netherlands. In Scheveningen, my troupe and I were regularly the high point of the season. Back in Germany after the war, I directed the Düsseldorf Ballet from 1951 to 1954, when I returned to Hanover for good. Here, at the State Theater, I found the ideal conditions for building a highly qualified ballet company with a truly modern repertory. I also directed the dance department of Hanover’s Institute of Music and Theater, where I was appointed professor in 1959. In Hanover I succeeded in putting into practice my own concept of a synthesis of classical and modern dance. Under my guidance, the city witnessed numerous premiere performances, among them the Electronic Ballet in 1957 to the music of Henk Badings. But the Georgi-era was unforgettable not only because of my exciting stage productions, major ballets, chamber ballet evenings in the Ballhof, or contributions to the Herrenhausen festival performances; only my understanding for and engagement on behalf of of my dancers could have made possible such a productive and harmonious collaboration over two decades.
German Raft: Resume
Kurt JoossJanuary 12th, 1901- May 22nd, 1979
Wasseralfingen, Germany
Early Life
From a young age I have been interested in singing, drama and visual arts, I also played the piano and was a keen photographer.
Starting Career:
I started my career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf Von Laban. I used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theater, further developing the work of Laban. Within a year of leaving Laban, I took the opportunity to establish my own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. This is where I met Fritz A. Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with me on many of his famous pieces. In 1925 Sigurd Leeder and I joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik." Sigurd and I went to Paris in 1926 to study Classical Ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova. In 1927 our work, Dance of Death, was criticised for being too avant-garde which means to new and original. Because of this, many of my colleagues left.
Middle Life:
In 1927 I moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Academy. I disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by me to address political concerns of the time. My most important choreographic work, The Green Table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before Adof Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. In 1933 I was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked me to dismiss the Jews from his company and I refused.Sigurd and I took refuge in Holland before resettling in England. After touring in Europe and America, we opened a school at Darting Hall in Devon. In 1934, while in England I added new works to my dancing career, including Pandora (1944), contained disturbing images of human disaster and tragedy, which was later interpreted by some as a statement predicting the future in the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later. I left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. I continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years.
End of Life:
I retired in 1968 and died 11 years later in 1979 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. My works are still performed today, especially The Green Table. Anna Markard, (my daughter) supervises companies that perform my works, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theater.
Yvonne Georgi
October 29, 1903-January 25,
1975 Leipzig, Germany
Early Life:
I was born in Leipzig, the daughter of a respected physician and a French mother. It is rare and in fact amazing that the talent of me, great artist, who had no dance instruction as a child, was discovered almost by chance during a pantomime performance at the home of a friend. I was seventeen years old at the time, finished with school and beginning my training to become a librarian at the famous German Library in Leipzig. At this point I began to study dance on the side and was soon performing my own self-created dances at the variety shows held for young people in a Leipzig department store.
Beginning of Career:
When I realized that dancing was to be not merely a hobby for me but her life’s purpose I broke off my training for librarianship and moved to Hellerau, where I began study at the Delcroze Institute. My parents continued to support me but without enthusiasm for my choice; my father especially was opposed to dance as a profession for his daughter. I stayed barely two months in Hellerau; the instruction was too “rhythmic-gymnastic” for me. I introduced myself to Mary Wigman, who I had seen at a dance performance in Leipzig, and was accepted into Wigman’s Dresden school of dance.
Middle Life:
Within a few years enthusiastic audiences were cheering me in solo dance performances and in duo appearances with Gret Palucca. In the fall of 1924 Kurt Jooss engaged me as solo dancer for the Stadttheater in Münster, and during the 1925/26 season, at the Reußisches Theater in Gera, she became the youngest ballet mistress in Germany. After her successful year in Gera Georgi moved to the Städtische Bühnen Hannover (City Stages of Hannover) as ballet mistress and opened her own school of dance. From the first Georgi had shown a preference for modern composers, and under her aegis Hannover blossomed into a center for modern interpretive dance (Ausdruckstanz). Her performances gained international attention and respect, and invitations for guest appearances followed. In 1927 Harald Kreutzberg joined Georgi’s company as a solo dancer. The first Georgi-Kreutzberg duo performances took place around this time.
End of Career:
Georgi remained in Hanover through the season of 1931/32. In 1932 I married L.M.G. Arntzenius, music critic and feuilleton editor of De Telegraaf in Holland. Thanks to half-year contracts in Hanover my fans could still cheer for me, for a while, but in 1936 I resettled permanently in Amsterdam and set about developing a national ballet in the Netherlands. In Scheveningen my troupe and I were regularly the high point of the season. Back in Germany after the war, I directed the Düsseldorf Ballet from 1951 to 1954, when I returned to Hanover for good. Here, at the State Theater, I found the ideal conditions for building a highly qualified ballet company with a truly modern repertory. In addition to the usual appearances in operas and operettas the ballet was guaranteed its own separate performances. I also directed the dance department of Hanover’s Institute of Music and Theater, where I was appointed professor in 1959. In Hanover I succeeded in putting into practice my own concept of a synthesis of classical and modern dance. Under my aegis the city witnessed numerous première performances, among them the Electronic Ballet in 1957 to the music of Henk Badings. But the Georgi-era was unforgettable not only because of my exciting stage productions, major ballets, chamber ballet evenings in the Ballhof, or contributions to the Herrenhausen festival performances; only my understanding for and engagement on behalf of of my dancers could have made possible such a productive and harmonious collaboration over two decades.
German Dance:
5 Questions:
1. Who are some famous dancers and choreographers in Germany?2. What types of dances are there in Germany.
3. Did any types of dance originate in Germany?
4. Are there any big dance companies in Germany?
5. Was dance effected during World War 2?
Question 1:
Fred Astaire (1899-1988)-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire
- Frederick Austerlitz original name
- an American Academy Award-winning film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor.
- His career lasted over 76 years
- Son of Frederic and Johanna Astaire
- Sister Adele had a talent of dancing and singing
- mother wanted it to be a brother sister act
- in 1918 Fred's dancing skill was beginning to outshine his sister
- They split in 1932, when Adele married her first husband
-Jean-Baptiste Blachehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Blache
- Jean-Baptiste Blache de Beaufort (17 May 1765, Berlin - 24 January 1834, Toulouse) was a German ballet dancer and ballet master active in France.
A student of Deshayes, he learned the violon and cello and had what was in essence a provincial career, mainly at Bordeaux, where he succeeded Jean Dauberval. He worked briefly at the Opéra de Paris, putting on The Barber of Seville (1806) and Les Fêtes de Vulcain (1820) there. Among his best known and most popular ballets are Les Meuniers (1787, admired by Arthur Saint-Léon), L'Amour et la Folie, La Chaste Suzanne, La Fille soldat and Almaviva et Rosine (1806).He retired to Toulouse and declined an offer from that theatre that he become its ballet master. His eldest son, Frédéric-Auguste Blache (1791- ?) revived his father's work at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin from 1816 to 1823, then at the Ambigu-Comique, where he revived the La Fille soldat. Frédéric-Auguste also wrote Polichinelle vampire, interpreted by Charles-François Mazurier (1823) and Jocko ou le Singe du Brésil (1825). Jean-Baptiste's younger son, Alexis-Scipion (1792-1852), was a ballet master at Lyon, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Saint-Petersburg.
(October 29, 1903 in Leipzig – January 25, 1975 in Hannover) was a German dancer, choreographer and balletmistress.
Georgi was born in Leipzig. Along with Gret Palucca and Hanya Holm, she was one of the best-known students of Mary Wigman; in her roles as dancer, choreographer and ballet mistress she exercised a decisive influence on the field of dance for decades. During the 1920s she and Harald Kreutzberg successfully toured the USA. She worked in Amsterdam and Hannover. She had numerous première performances, among them the Electronic Ballet in 1957 to the music of Henk Badings. She died in Hannover
http://www.answers.com/topic/yvonne-georgi-1
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306107/Kurt-JoossGeorgi, Yvonne (b Leipzig, 29 Oct. 1903, d Hanover, 25 Jan. 1975). German dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and teacher. An important figure in the German dance renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s. She studied in Leipzig, at the Dalcroze Institute in Hellerau (1920) and from 1921 at the Wigman School in Dresden, where she performed with the Wigman group. Although trained in the Wigman aesthetic, and with no significant classical influences in her background, she none the less maintained an interest in classical dance, and as her career progressed so did her reliance on ballet as a medium for theatrical endeavour. She made her Leipzig debut in 1923, and then toured as a solo recital artist. She continued to tour until 1939 throughout Europe and North America; and also presented duet evenings with Harald Kreutzberg. In 1924 she joined Kurt Jooss's company in Münster. She was ballet mistress in Gera (1925) and in Hanover (1926-31, 1933-6), where she also opened a school. It was at this time that she worked with the ballet master Victor Gsovsky. She also worked in the Netherlands, where in 1931 she founded a dance school and a performing group in Amsterdam, which eventually became the Ballets Yvonne Georgi. In 1941 the group became the resident company of the Amsterdam Opera House. She continued to work in Holland during the Second World War. In Paris she choreographed Berger's 1950 film Ballerina, which starred Verdy. From 1951 she returned to Germany, first as ballet mistress of the Abraxas company and then of the Düsseldorf Opera Ballet (1951-4). She was ballet director in Hanover (1954-70) and director of the dance department at Hanover's Academy of Music until 1973. She staged ballets throughout Germany and the dances for many operas. Although never widely recognized as a choreographer of note, her 1962 ballet Metamorphosen is considered one of the great German ballets of the period.
Initially a music student, Jooss trained in dance from 1920 to 1924 with Rudolf Laban and then worked as choreographer for the avant-garde Neue Tanzbühne (“New Dance Stage”). After studying ballet in Vienna and Paris, Jooss returned to Germany and established a school (1927) and company (1928). In 1930 he became ballet master at the Essen Opera House, where his own group performed. In 1932 he choreographed The Green Table, which won first prize in the choreographic competition organized by the International Archives of Dance in Paris. Subsequently his group became known as Ballets Jooss and made a world tour during 1933 and 1934. Because Adolf Hitler had come to power, Jooss did not return to Germany but with Sigurd Leeder made his headquarters at Dartington Hall, Devon, Eng., where many students came to study his approach to dance. Jooss returned to Essen in 1949, as a British citizen, and reopened his school. His company was disbanded in 1953 (and he retired as school director in 1968), but he reorganized the company for festivals during 1963 and 1964.
Jooss’s masterpiece, The Green Table, is a caustic satire on the futility of war. His other ballets, which include The Big City (1932) and The Seven Heroes (1933), also have contemporary themes or implications. Jooss retained basic ballet steps and positions in his choreography and made extensive use of expressive gesture but eliminated such displays of virtuosity as the use of points and multiple pirouettes. At his school at Dartington Hall and later at Essen, Jooss formalized his approach by further developing eukinetics, a system originated by Laban and designed to enable a dancer to perform a wide variety of dance styles with expression and control. Through his eclectic choreography and his teaching, Jooss expanded the technical and thematic range of theatrical dance
Vera Zorina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_ZorinaJanuary 2, 1917 - died April 9, 2003) was a ballerina, musical theatre actress and choreographer in both Europe and the United States.
Born as Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin of Norwegian descent, Zorina was George Balanchine's second wife; they were married from 1938 to 1946. She danced in productions he choreographed, both on the stage and screen, including On Your Toes, a Broadway hit later adapted for the screen by Lawrence Riley.
She was also married to Goddard Lieberson from 1946 until his death on May 29, 1977, by whom she had two sons: Peter Lieberson, a composer, and Jonathan Lieberson. Her final marriage was to Paul Wolfe from 1991 until her death on April 9, 2003, aged 86.
According to an article in a 1939 news magazine, she crossed the Atlantic to the U.S. taking a whole luxury upper deck section of the ocean liner. Some reporting centred around scandalous nude sunbathing on the crossing.
Zorina was also associated with Arthur Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, in which she played the title role in the first U.S. performance with the New York Philharmonic under Charles Münch on 1 January 1948. She subsequently played the role many times, notably in the recorded performance from the UK Royal Festival Hall in June 1966 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa